Four Clover Life- By Namrata Shailendra Singh

What happens when a series of burglary in your community leads you helpless and hapless? What happens when the apartment management does little and then moves on with life and rent?  What happens when all you can now do is WAIT FOR YOUR TURN, knowing very well that one day it could be your home, hoping the day never comes.     Dear Robber, Now that you have created the right amount of fear and panic in the community I live, the apartment I inhabit, I thought it was a good time to talk to you face to face. Oh! But where is the face? Huh! Who cares. I know you way too well. Robbers don’t have a face, they have deeds. What they rob is not as important as what they leave behind. So, what if I do not know the length of your nose, the light brown Mongolian spot on your neck, the color of your eyes but let me tell you, all robbers look the same and everything you did in my neighbor’s home when she off to Costco to buy milk and grocery for her family was callous and spiteful. So

“What’s the difference Naina? I understand your pain. But people make a living because it is important to live life.” “I am making more than a living Chandana. It’s just that I find it all meaningless… an emptiness where I am all about numbers, targets, awards, promotions, pay package, a kind of excess which is making me unhappy. I think I am missing out on life?” “And what exactly is that?” “I am not sure; I can’t put my finger on it and say- this is it, but I know that the abundance that I have is not making me happy. It doesn’t give me joy.” Click on  Life Calling  to read the story. Image courtesy-Pixabay

"I see her again and I feel the envy rise. 120 seconds before I had decided not to ever visit her Facebook profile, exactly 120 seconds later my mind forces me, and I read her new post, actually old for me, it has been 16 hours since she posted, and I have visited, read, re read, processed it 16000 times. With father and son on a camping trip over the weekend, I am drowning in the company of happy faces on Facebook.   FB ruined me, almost literally. If I had the powers, I could get the owners of FB arrested for unleashing a heinous social crime on us. Or is it just me? May be, just me. My mind cannot stop. I need to see a shrink." Click on  Phew!  to read the full story. Image courtesy-Pixabay

"But she loved and loved in her own way. I realized it four years back when I became a mom. I realized every bit, tracing every day of my journey being raised by her. I accept that there is no one way to love, that just because I am a mom does not place me next to god( honestly, I would like to stay away from that altar), that I have thousands of faults and craters within me, lava too and many times I can be all imperfect and yet love my child. You cannot question or suspect or interrogate my love for my child JUST BECAUSE I AM A HUMAN MOM." Click on  My Human Mom  to read the complete story. Image courtesy-Pixabay

The bigger question bombarding in my mind --- Is it essential to experience the dark to inculcate Empathy? Yes, values are taught by parents, best when experienced, but every experience doesn't translate into an 'imbibed value' 'well-lived. ' Do education and indirect exposure to the dark side of life help in creating the service-oriented mindset?  Click on  Raising a Socially Responsible Child  to read the full article. This article was featured on Mompresso as #BlogOfTheDay. Image Courtesy-Pixabay.

My mother never thumped her chest for all that she did. I don't want chest-thumping either.  My bad, I don't get this. Platonic, joyous, blessed, and much more. When it comes to motherhood, the more adjectives, the better. Unconditionally loving, unconditionally caring till her last breath and even after, I guess, the more such attributes for a MOTHER, the better. Mother’s Day to every day celebrating motherhood, the world is lapping up every opportunity to say - MOMS ARE THE BEST. Well, they are. So? What's the glorification about? Our moms (baby boomers or early generation X) had 2-3 children, some even 4 for some blessed ones. They conceived, delivered, breastfed, cooked, cared, washed, cleaned, organized, cooked again, cleaned again, and fall asleep tired and exhausted only to wake up at 5 am or 6 am again and start the grind. They too had dreams, few were career women, and many were Staying at home but never brooding, complaining or depressing,

If a parent is trying to protect, care for, and educate a girl child on her sexuality, it is equally essential to provide the same to the boy child. Doesn't it take 'TWO TO TANGO'?  Giving attention to your boy child is equally important, if not more. If we made our boy children responsible adults, we ensure that the girls don’t need to move around with fear. Don't say then- I will not understand. I do because I have a son, and he is not a bull.  Click on   My son, his Spermarche, and his Sexuality   to read the full article. Image courtesy-Pixabay